Mari is gay for Yui (_very_ serious thread)

[SaltyJoe]

And by extension, Rei. What do i base this assumption on?

Simple.

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But what does the LCL inside Eva-01, the only LCL Shinji comes into contact with on a regualr basis smell like?

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Ooh la la. This makes it perfectly clear why they chose pink as the color for Mari's second plugsuit, and why she gets along so well with the Evas, who are, soul or no soul, all girls. Naughty girls.

[s]Lock.[/s] Discuss.

EDIT:
Aha. So you can't have formatting in the thread titles.

[The Eva Monkey]

[SaltyJoe]

Well, a man gotta admit his failures.

Trying to squeeze something worthwhile out of this: during the climax of 2.0, Mari does remark that Shinji somehow smells special/different (compared to what?). But if we take Shinji's statements about the smell of the interior of Eva-01 and it's Entry Plug, then it's entirely possible that Mari somehow picked up Rei's/Yui's/Lilith's? scent on Shinji.

[oOoOoOo]

This could be something. We really know shit-all about Mari, so no harm in speculating.

Maybe she doesn't have a thing for Yui specifically, but she may very well have a thing for LCL. She could be an LCL connoisseur. An LCL otaku. Also, she is probably more "in the loop" than a lot of the other characters, judging by her covert ops hijinks. Perhaps she is supposed to be investigating Eva-01? Perhaps she knows it is different than the other Evas? Maybe she knows of the contact experiments? Maybe she knows about the mom-pilot connection? Maybe this is related to her own past?

^^;

Though this is all just fumbling in the dark, I congratulate the topic-starter on an interesting idea.

[Kendrix]

Well, she does know that Evas are alive.
However, I don't think it's specifically about Yui's/Rei's scent, LCL can smell like particular ppl, but it also has a smell of it's own (somewhat like blood, occording to Shinji), and since Mari also seemed rather pleased with Asuka's LCL and specifically stated that "It doesn't matter if the Entry plug smells like someone else", it's mostly that 'basic' LCL scent that she likes... but she seems to have a thing about Shinji's particular scent. She remarks that she 'should have known that he would go and save us' based on Shinji's personal smell.
Mari is pretty nose-fixated. It might or might not have a particular reason. It might be as simple as that since she can't rely to much on her eyes, she learned to use her nose instead to the point that she can recognize other Eva-pilots. It might be connected to her past, or just be simple weird-ppl ability XD

[oOoOoOo]

Ah, those are good points. Perhaps via smell, Mari can sense how badass Yui-sama is (even if she has no specific knowledge of Yui). She can smell the quality?

Now I really hope they play up Mari's sense of smell in 3.0.

[Halicat]

Now that I think about it, how does one's smell STAY in the entry plug anyway? Surely they refill the plug with fresh LCL so it can't be that. I can understand Shinji smelling his mother in there because part of her more than likely exists in the flesh of Unit 01 but how can you smell the pilot? :S [In honesty I'm more referring to when Shinji and Rei switch Evas and Rei says 'It smells like Shinji' but this thread seems the best place to wonder.]

[Azathoth]

Now that I think about it, how does one's smell STAY in the entry plug anyway? Surely they refill the plug with fresh LCL so it can't be that. I can understand Shinji smelling his mother in there because part of her more than likely exists in the flesh of Unit 01 but how can you smell the pilot? :S [In honesty I'm more referring to when Shinji and Rei switch Evas and Rei says 'It smells like Shinji' but this thread seems the best place to wonder.]

Clearly, Mari can smell souls. It's among her special OC powers.

[oOoOoOo]

It is possible that the Eva units themselves retain the smell of their pilots on purpose. That is, each Eva, because of its bond with its pilot, keeps a bit of the pilot's "material" around. Because of all the stuff being transfered from pilot to unit and back, I imagine there is some residue.

[AuraTwilight]

She's an Angelsexual. It's not that she's gay for Yui, but Angels, Evangelions, and similar entities GET HER BONER ON.

In the end, she's going to wuv on Kaworu just like Shinji's Wuving on Rei, and the world will be saved with WUV POWUR

[oOoOoOo]

You laugh, but "angelsexual" might be... on the mark. If any of her backstory is revealed, I wouldn't be surprised if we're introduced to the genesis of a serious angel fetish. Like, she is an otaku for this stuff. I wonder how she'll react to Kaworu... yeah, that's a good point.

And I wonder how Asuka will smell to Mari, considering Asuka's angel incident...

This thread has made me like Mari more. Thanks Evageeks!

[NemZ]

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but I think the 'smell of mother/Rei' thing is actually more about Shinji sensing the presence of Yui in the Eva but not being able to identify this sensation, thus instinctually defaulting to scent as it is the sensory system with the closest connection to memory. It's the sensory version of people feeling heart attacks in their arms because the brain doesn't know how to properly interpret such signals from a place it doesn't usually get that kind of feedback from.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled Shinji/Mari/Rei shipping enterprise. (by which I mean I will return to lurking)

[Seph]

Now that I think about it, how does one's smell STAY in the entry plug anyway? Surely they refill the plug with fresh LCL so it can't be that. I can understand Shinji smelling his mother in there because part of her more than likely exists in the flesh of Unit 01 but how can you smell the pilot? :S [In honesty I'm more referring to when Shinji and Rei switch Evas and Rei says 'It smells like Shinji' but this thread seems the best place to wonder.]

Apart from forced ejections, we never see the LCL actually leave the plug. I suppose it simply gets cleaned and recycled inside of the Eva. IIRC, it's even mentioned a few times during NGE. If that hasn't changed, I guess there simply a small tank and cleaning systems for the LCL somewhere inside the EVAs chest, and they simply pour more into the after each battle to replace what's been lost.

That should allow for the smell to be retained.

[facespace]

Now that I think about it, how does one's smell STAY in the entry plug anyway? Surely they refill the plug with fresh LCL so it can't be that. I can understand Shinji smelling his mother in there because part of her more than likely exists in the flesh of Unit 01 but how can you smell the pilot? :S [In honesty I'm more referring to when Shinji and Rei switch Evas and Rei says 'It smells like Shinji' but this thread seems the best place to wonder.]

In the TV show when Liliel ate Eva 1, Shinji complained that the LCL wasn't being cycled through any cleaning processes and caused the LCL to stink. I would assume that the LCL that was left on Shinji after a battle would probably go bad and then stink, and that is how she picked up the LCL scent.

[Gamer137]

I'm not really convinced it has to do with any sole character. Mari appears to be quite the adrenaline junkie, and LCL is the associated smell when getting her fix of the drug. I can imagine weed users picking other weed users out of the crowd due to smell and immediate association.

[CATO]

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but I think the 'smell of mother/Rei' thing is actually more about Shinji sensing the presence of Yui in the Eva but not being able to identify this sensation, thus instinctually defaulting to scent as it is the sensory system with the closest connection to memory.

Not necessarily true. Human babies are capable of recognizing the smell of their mothers during the first days of breastfeeding. Also, there is a great body of research indicating that odor memory can be retained for years with minimal episodes of re-exposure to stimuli in between. Thus, Shinji could be smelling his mother in the amniotic plug. I guess the question is: does a soul have a smell in Eva?

[FastEddie]

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but I think the 'smell of mother/Rei' thing is actually more about Shinji sensing the presence of Yui in the Eva but not being able to identify this sensation, thus instinctually defaulting to scent as it is the sensory system with the closest connection to memory. It's the sensory version of people feeling heart attacks in their arms because the brain doesn't know how to properly interpret such signals from a place it doesn't usually get that kind of feedback from.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled Shinji/Mari/Rei shipping enterprise. (by which I mean I will return to lurking)

I come out from lurking to add a +1 on this theory.

Gotta love this kind of threads, lateral thinking at its best.

CYA, Ed

[carla]

Now that I think about it, how does one's smell STAY in the entry plug anyway? [...] how can you smell the pilot? :S

It is possible that the Eva units themselves retain the smell of their pilots on purpose.

well, smell (like all the other senses) isn't necessarily about the nose itself, or the chemoreception of odorant substances, but about how the brain interprets those signals. when you're synched to an eva, your brain is basically connected to this giant robot, whose only discernible "mental" activity is coming from someone else's soul. it's likely that this connection enables the interpretation of signals of one being to intertwine with the other.

going off what o-san said, you wouldn't need to actually have odorant substances in the LCL if the soul within the eva can somehow send a signal to your brain telling you that you're smelling your mother. or smelling the previous pilot, or whoever. i guess it's kind of like how the pilot themself gets injured if the eva gets injured, depending on the level of synchronization.

in the case of mari while she's outside the eva, though... i don't know, she's just weird. i like the idea that she somehow smells lilith on Shinji, though! can't be sure from her words whether it's that or whether it's something about Shinji himself, but it's nice speculation.

[Lonecow12]

I originally said it as a joke, but I kind of want Asuka and Mari to hook up. Since Asuka is getting screwed over so far in Rebuild, and if Shinji does end up with Rei then Asuka needs some happiness. I don't want her with Toji or Kinsuke because they are idiots, or Kawaru cause he likes boys.

I think they should change all the homosexual overtones between Shinji and Kawaru to Asuka and Mari. I just want Asuka to meet someone who would take care of her, and I think Mari is that person.

Besides they cut Asuka Soryu in half anyway and got Shikinami and Mari, so they complement each other well.

[Twin Drive Sigma Aquarion]

Kawaru cause he likes boys.

There has never been serious evidence that Tabris wanted to bone a human within the same gender as him.